A FORUM for the climate

Spettro della radiazione emessa alle onde lunghe al top dell'atmosfera in condizioni di cielo chiaro (blu) ed in presenza di cirri (grigio) relativamente ad uno scenario alle medie latitudini. In figura sono mostrati anche gli intervalli spettrali coperti da FORUM e IASI-NG.

The paper "FORUM: unique far-infrared satellite observations to better understand how Earth radiates energy to space", published on the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, written by Dr. Luca Palchetti of CNR-INO along with an international team, with Dr. Bianca Maria Dinelli of CNR-ISAC among the authors, describes the FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) mission selected September of last year to be the ESA Earth Explorer 9. FORUM will observe from space, for the first time, the Earth’s outgoing radiation spectrum across the far-infrared with high spectral resolution and accuracy. The Earth Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) emitted to space, to which numerous physical processes contribute, is a fundamental component of the Earth’s energy budget, strictly linked to climate change.

Palchetti, L., and Coauthors, FORUM: unique far-infrared satellite observations to better understand how Earth radiates energy to space. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 2020, doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0322.1.

Figure: Spectrum of the outgoing radiance expected at TOA for clear sky (blue line) under a mid-latitude standard scenario and in presence of a cirrus cloud (grey line). The spectral ranges covered by FORUM and IASI-NG are also shown.